Real estate blog has house hunters talking

June 02, 2010|By Mary Umberger | On Real Estate

If you live in Chicago and you're familiar with the term "real estate porn," you probably already know about Sabrina and her Web site.

That would beCribChatter.com, a labor of love by a self-confessed "house freak" who decided three years ago there had to be other real estate fanatics: people who regard attending open houses as a form of entertainment or can quote the pricing history of a house on the market the way some White Sox fans can spit out Paul Konerko's batting average.Each day, Sabrina's blog posts listing details and photos of three houses for sale or that recently have closed, and invites her followers to weigh in. And they do, sometimes with a vengeance.

"Some people feel real strongly about housing, obviously, and some things will set some of the commenters off," said Sabrina, who has watched verbal slugfests ensue over some listings.

"It's stuff like, if you're trying to sell for a lot more than what you paid in the last five years, or if the interior is crazy, that'll do it," she said.

"Ehhhh, what (an ugly) little dump," wrote one recent poster. "That kitchen is tragic. At least the new owner will experience no guilt at gutting it back to the studs. Some folks will do ANYTHING to have a (single-family) house in Lakeview."

Sabrina has a last name, but she doesn't reveal it on the site.

"I like to maintain my anonymity, but it's really only because I like going to open houses and sales centers, and then the agents don't know who I am and are more honest when answering my questions on the condition of the real estate market," she said.

She ducks questions about her life, other than to say she's not a real estate agent and isn't involved professionally in the business.

But real estate agents are all over the site, posting opinions or helping her research properties.

Many agents are happy to get exposure for their listings, though some aren't because there's a chance that the commenters will ridicule their listings and asking prices.

"Agents get maligned on the site. They do," she said. But most of the comments are neutral, and most agents cooperate with her requests for information and photos.

"Some agents kind of get the Internet and want any kind of marketing they can get," she said. "They're aware of the negatives that can happen on the site."

David Hanna, a broker at Realty Executives Source One in Chicago, said he has talked with agents on both sides.

"The pros are that you get great exposure," he said. "It's open, and (Sabrina is) real straightforward. You get clear, unbiased feedback. The cons are that you also can get somewhat brutal feedback. Some agents get worried that their property is going to get lambasted about the price or that the finishes are going to get ripped to shreds."

In addition to house groupies, a mix of consumers is on the site each day. Sabrina has heard from people who are relocating to Chicago and trying to get a handle on neighborhoods and pricing, she said. And agents have told her properties have sold to people who found them on her site.

But she can't control how the commenters will react, and she insisted she's not trying to rub salt into anybody's wounds.

"I'm very sensitive to how difficult it is out there for many sellers," she said. "(Some commenters) talk about these properties on the site without any real concern for the people living there, and that it is real money lost and difficult times for many of them."

She has removed some posts at the homeowners' request when responses have been unkind, she said.

CribChatter.com gets about 230,000 visits a month, she said, not huge by blogging standards but enough to generate Google ads that run on the site. She has turned down advertising offers from real estate companies because the site is "freer" without it.

Sabrina spends a couple hours every day working on the site, fleshing out information on listings and figuring out which homes to use.

Most are in the city and tend to skew toward the North Side, she said. She said she's considering expanding it to include a few nearby suburbs.

She doesn't see interest declining.

"I think people just want information and like seeing what's out there," she said. "Some people say they're addicted to the site. They just like looking into other people's lives and dreaming, 'Maybe I could live there.'"